Saturday globe vol. 21 no. 35

POLYGAMY THE BAIT
WITH WHICH MORMONS MAKE CATCHES IN THE WEST.
Missionaries of the Latter Day Saints Preaching the Plural Marriage Gospel of Joseph Smith— 2,000 Proselyters at Work.
LINCOLN, Neb., Jan. 9.— Mis-sionaries of the Mormon Church have for some time —been unusually active in this State, Kansas and South Dakota. Most of them look and act like farmers' sons turned into preachers without much more preparation than a thorough knowledge of the Mormon Bible, and the farming regions have been selected as the fields of operation. They urge the people to emigrate to Utah and Idaho. Formerly the missionaries mere-ly sought converts and were careful to insist that polygamy was no longer a doctrine of the church. They generally traveled in pairs and went from house to house, quietly pushing the work of convincing men and women that the Latter Day Church offered a simpler and nobler plan of salvation and belief than the older denominations. They admitted that the old leaders had prac-tised polygamy and that while they were obeying the letter of the law in that they lived with but one wife they were not shirking the duty of support to the others still alive. In their cru-sade they were aided by the general belief that the church had submitted to the inevitable and had banished poly-gamy. They held public meetings also and openly sought for converts. That they were successful was proved by the number of congregations they organized in various parts of Nebraska, Kansas and Iowa.
The campaign now being prosecuted is a masked one. It is no longer insisted on that polygamy has been banished from the church. In a covert way it is stated that they are now seeking con-verts to the church because
POLYGAMY IS POSSIBLE
In Utah and Idaho, where the Mormons are the dominant power in politics. One of these missionaries is quoted as hav-ing said recently in a talk with pros-pective converts that the true Mormons have never relinquished their polyga-mous beliefs and that he expected to secure many converts because most men are by instinct polygamous, and that in a church governed and run as a business organization a plurality of wives is not only not a burden, but a distinct help to worldly prosperity. These arguments, confined as they are to the less educated part of the popu-lation, have been bearing fruit, and it is said that the spring will see a con-siderable immigration to the two States named.
These missionaries have been quoting leaders of the church as saying that the law of plural marriage is God-given, and that no Mormon need fear man-made laws. They are also accused of tempting their prospective converts with a picture of Mormon supremacy in the future by reason of the fact that plurality of wives means larger fam-ilies, and that as the average non-Mormon family numbers no more than three children, in time the whole earth will be filled by the true believers. They seek to prove that in ancient days ac-cording to both their Bible and that of the Christian Church, polygamy was
NOT REGARDED AS A SIN.
In fact, these missionaries are preach-ing the old gospel according to Joseph Smith, but with more cunning and diplomacy. Here in the west it is recognized that the Mormon Church holds the balance of political power in Wyoming, Nevada and Idaho, which means that its very practical leaders find it easy to make bargains with the machine politicians, who, in return for votes, grant immunity from arrest and prosecution to those Mormons who dis-creetly desire to continue their old practices. Even in the most flagrant cases of violation of the anti-polygamy law, only nominal fines are assessed, and most of the offenders immediately return to their wives.
Rev. Mr. Lillywhite, who has been in charge of the Nebraska propaganda, says that the church has now 2,000 earn-est and active missionaries at work in the United States. This includes those in charge of churches.
It has been found difficult to secure much of a foothold in the States east of the Mississippi, because of the great-er prejudice that exists there against anything that bears the name of Mor-mon. Only scattered communities are found in the Ohio valley, and there are some in Pennsylvania also.
THE POLICE OF THE APOSTLES,
who have charge of all civil and re-ligious matters, has been to bunch the believers in one part of the country, and when converts are secured in the east every inducement is held out to them to settle in Utah, Nevada, Idaho or Wyoming. More recently the apostles have given orders to extend their domain a little further to the east, to include Colorado, New Mexico and later it is presumed, Kansas and Ne-braska. The anti-polygamists in this region have only recently become aware of the extent of the movement, and they are now seeking to enlist eastern sympathy in their fight against the extension of Mormonism. They declare that the present missionary movement is in-tended, in part, to create a public sen-timent that will not retard the Mor-mon Church's growth, while at the same time effort is being made to gain a membership that will in the future make it impossible ever to prohibit polygamy by amendment to the Fed-eral Constitution.
One obstacle the anti-polygamists have to contend with is the political power of the Mormons. Many of the Mormon leaders are shrewd business men. They may or may not be devout believers in Mormonism, but they know that there is money and worldly station in the leadership of this people.

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POLYGAMY THE BAIT
WITH WHICH MORMONS MAKE CATCHES IN THE WEST.
Missionaries of the Latter Day Saints Preaching the Plural Marriage Gospel of Joseph Smith— 2,000 Proselyters at Work.
LINCOLN, Neb., Jan. 9.— Mis-sionaries of the Mormon Church have for some time —been unusually active in this State, Kansas and South Dakota. Most of them look and act like farmers' sons turned into preachers without much more preparation than a thorough knowledge of the Mormon Bible, and the farming regions have been selected as the fields of operation. They urge the people to emigrate to Utah and Idaho. Formerly the missionaries mere-ly sought converts and were careful to insist that polygamy was no longer a doctrine of the church. They generally traveled in pairs and went from house to house, quietly pushing the work of convincing men and women that the Latter Day Church offered a simpler and nobler plan of salvation and belief than the older denominations. They admitted that the old leaders had prac-tised polygamy and that while they were obeying the letter of the law in that they lived with but one wife they were not shirking the duty of support to the others still alive. In their cru-sade they were aided by the general belief that the church had submitted to the inevitable and had banished poly-gamy. They held public meetings also and openly sought for converts. That they were successful was proved by the number of congregations they organized in various parts of Nebraska, Kansas and Iowa.
The campaign now being prosecuted is a masked one. It is no longer insisted on that polygamy has been banished from the church. In a covert way it is stated that they are now seeking con-verts to the church because
POLYGAMY IS POSSIBLE
In Utah and Idaho, where the Mormons are the dominant power in politics. One of these missionaries is quoted as hav-ing said recently in a talk with pros-pective converts that the true Mormons have never relinquished their polyga-mous beliefs and that he expected to secure many converts because most men are by instinct polygamous, and that in a church governed and run as a business organization a plurality of wives is not only not a burden, but a distinct help to worldly prosperity. These arguments, confined as they are to the less educated part of the popu-lation, have been bearing fruit, and it is said that the spring will see a con-siderable immigration to the two States named.
These missionaries have been quoting leaders of the church as saying that the law of plural marriage is God-given, and that no Mormon need fear man-made laws. They are also accused of tempting their prospective converts with a picture of Mormon supremacy in the future by reason of the fact that plurality of wives means larger fam-ilies, and that as the average non-Mormon family numbers no more than three children, in time the whole earth will be filled by the true believers. They seek to prove that in ancient days ac-cording to both their Bible and that of the Christian Church, polygamy was
NOT REGARDED AS A SIN.
In fact, these missionaries are preach-ing the old gospel according to Joseph Smith, but with more cunning and diplomacy. Here in the west it is recognized that the Mormon Church holds the balance of political power in Wyoming, Nevada and Idaho, which means that its very practical leaders find it easy to make bargains with the machine politicians, who, in return for votes, grant immunity from arrest and prosecution to those Mormons who dis-creetly desire to continue their old practices. Even in the most flagrant cases of violation of the anti-polygamy law, only nominal fines are assessed, and most of the offenders immediately return to their wives.
Rev. Mr. Lillywhite, who has been in charge of the Nebraska propaganda, says that the church has now 2,000 earn-est and active missionaries at work in the United States. This includes those in charge of churches.
It has been found difficult to secure much of a foothold in the States east of the Mississippi, because of the great-er prejudice that exists there against anything that bears the name of Mor-mon. Only scattered communities are found in the Ohio valley, and there are some in Pennsylvania also.
THE POLICE OF THE APOSTLES,
who have charge of all civil and re-ligious matters, has been to bunch the believers in one part of the country, and when converts are secured in the east every inducement is held out to them to settle in Utah, Nevada, Idaho or Wyoming. More recently the apostles have given orders to extend their domain a little further to the east, to include Colorado, New Mexico and later it is presumed, Kansas and Ne-braska. The anti-polygamists in this region have only recently become aware of the extent of the movement, and they are now seeking to enlist eastern sympathy in their fight against the extension of Mormonism. They declare that the present missionary movement is in-tended, in part, to create a public sen-timent that will not retard the Mor-mon Church's growth, while at the same time effort is being made to gain a membership that will in the future make it impossible ever to prohibit polygamy by amendment to the Fed-eral Constitution.
One obstacle the anti-polygamists have to contend with is the political power of the Mormons. Many of the Mormon leaders are shrewd business men. They may or may not be devout believers in Mormonism, but they know that there is money and worldly station in the leadership of this people.